Hoop lug



Oct. 21, 1947. R. G. DE LA MATEFIQ- H001 LUG I Filed Jan. 24, 1945 I NVENTOR FM zrGDEM/Vkfzs/z x Q (R MRNEYS Patented Oct. 21, 1947 HOOP LUGRobert Griffin De La Mater,

assignor to The Parkersburg pany, Parkersburg, West VirginiaParkersburg, W. Va., Rig & Reel Com Va., a corporation of ApplicationJanuary 24, 1945, Serial No. 574,424

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to hoop lugs for wooden tanks and the like.

It is the common practice to construct large wooden tanks, for example,water and oil storage tanks, of wood staves held in position by a,series of surrounding hoops. These hoops are usually formed of round barmaterial threaded at their ends for reception in nuts carried bysuitable lugs whereby the nuts may be tightened to bind the hoops aboutthe tank staves.

It is the common practice to form the lug bodies of such material asmalleable iron having a base portion to seat against the staves andother portions through which the ends of the hoop extending forengagement in the nuts. The lugs commonly employed are only generallysatisfactory and possess definite disadvantages, For example, these lugsusually have a zone of weak ness which results in lugs frequentlybreaking un- 'der the strain to which they are subjected. Moreover, inview of practical limitations in the production of economical castings,a zone of weakness not only is present but the lugs are such as topresent limited base areas in contact with the tank staves, thus usuallyresulting in the lugs digging into the staves when the nuts aretightened.

An import-ant object of the present invention is to provide an extremelysimple type of hoop lug which is capable of being more economicallymanufactured than conventional lugs and which eliminates the inherentdisadvantages of the latter.

More specifically, a further object is to provide a hoop lug whichprovides the most economical distribution of weight with relation to thedis tribution of stresses, and which provides for greater bearing areaon the staves, thus reducing the possibility of crushing the wood.

A further object is to provide such a device wherein the possibility ofdistortion and buckling is eliminated, thus greatly reducing thepossibility of the ends of the lugs digging into the staves.

A further object is to provide a hoop lug of such construction that verysmall tool expense is involved in the making of lugs for any desiredsize of hoop, or for any desired radius of tank, or of any desiredlength.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description.

In the drawing I have shown one embodiment of the invention. In thisshowing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the hoop lug,

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through a portion ofa wood stave tank showing the invention applied, parts being shown inelevation and parts being broken away,

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view on line 33 oi Figure 2, and

a fragmentary sectionalview of one end of a modified form of the device.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral l0 designates a tank as a wholeformed of conventional assembled wood or similar staves I I. Thesestaves are held in position by a plurality of clamping bands which inthemselves may be wholly conventional, and one of which is shown inFigure 2 and indicated by the numeral I3. Such hoop is provided withthreaded ends I4 and I5 which may bear the same relationship to eachother as the hoops employed with conventional lugs.

The device forming the subject matter of the present invention comprisesa body member indicated as a whole by the numeral I8. Such bodycomprises a base portion I9 preferably slightly bent intermediate itsends as at 29 so that the two end portions of the base member seatagainst and are tangent to the body of the tank approximately at thepoints 2I. As shown in Figure 1, the base member I9 is solid andunbroken from. end to end and side to side, as distinguished from theconventional cast lug which is open substantially from end to endthrough the center thereof. Accordingly the base of the present deviceprovides Figure 4 is a substantial bottom area for contact with thetank, and. the base, with minor increases in cost, may be made as wideas desired, or as long as desired, depending upon the size of the tankwith which the device is to be employed.

The body I8 has hoop-attaching sections 24 and 25 at one end, the bodybeing bent as at 26 to form the attaching section 24, The bend 26 is notsharp, but rather provides a relatively gradual curve to eliminate asharp edge which might possibly dig into the adjacent wood stave of thetank. The metal of the body is bent as at 21 to form the attachingsection 25, and the sections 24 and 25 are arranged at such angle toeach other as to be approximately perpendicular to the respective endsof the hoop to be connected to the device as shown. in Figure 2.

The hoop end I4 projects through an opening 30 in the attaching section24 and is provided with a nut 3 I. This nut is prevented from turning,after being threaded in position as will be described, by contact withthe metal of the body adjacent the bend 26. The hoop end l5 extendsthrough a pipe or tube 32 which is welded to the base I9 as at 33 and iswelded to the attaching end 25 as at 34. The hoop end I5 extends throughan opening 35 in the attaching end 25 and is provided with a nut 36threaded thereon as shown in Figure 2.

The base member I9 has its end adjacent the Weld 33 curved outwardly asat 31, or otherwise formed as referred to later, to eliminate any sharpedge which might dig into the wood staves. of the tank. If desired, thiscurved end may extend past the bottom limit of the adjacent portion of,

3 the hoop, I3, in which case it will be notched as at 35 so as to bewholly free from the hoop I3. Accordingly the hoop is prevented frombinding sist compression, and the base member I9 obagainst the baseportion 31, and the tube 32 has an internal diameter larger than thehoop for the purpose of preventing the latter from binding in the tube.It is preferred that the end of the device opposite the nuts 3| and 36be curved upwardly'to eliminate or minimize the digging of theend of thebase I9 into the staves of the tank, as indicated above. be bentupwardly as indicated by the numeral 31. If desired, the end of the baseI9 may be ground or forged to provide the desired curvature as indicatedby the numeral 39 in Figure 4. Such curvature may be formed to a radiusequal to the thickness of the base member.

The operation of the device is as follows:

A hoop is placed in position around the tank and with the nut 3| held inposition adjacent the inner face of the attaching section 24, the hoopend I4 is inserted through the opening 30, and the nut and the entirelug structure may be rotated to thread the nut 3| up to the approximateposition on the hoop end I4 shown in Figure 2. Alternatively, theopening 30, which in any event freely receives the hoop end, may besufliciently larger than the hoop to permit the lug to be tilted at anangle relative to the hoop end I4 sothat the latter projects from theside of the device, whereupon the nut may be threaded on the hoop andthe latter pulled outwardly with respect to the lug to move the nut I3into the position shown in Figure 2'.

The hoop end I5 is then inserted through the tube 32 and through theopening 35 whereupon the nut 36 is applied and tightened to the desiredextent.

Some shifting of the parts usually occurs in the tightening of the nut38 and the very greatly-in creased area of the base I9 compared withconventional constructions prevents any substantial embedding of thebase I9 into the wood of the tank staves. This fact permits the basemember to shift more easily if necessary, and the eliminationof'relatively sharp corners on the ends of the base member prevents suchends from digging into the tank staves due to shifting of the basemember or anydistortion of'the latter. For example, in the tightening ofthe nut 36 to draw the hoop tight about the tank, there may be moreforce tending to move one end of the base member I 9 radially inwardlyrelative to the tank than the other end of the base member. This usuallycauses one end of the base member to dig into the wood of the tank, andthis condition is greatly aggravated if the lug tends to shift in thedirection of the end of the lug which has dug into the tank. Thiscondition causes substantial damage to the tank in conventionalconstructions, and such damage is eliminated or greatly minimized in thepresent construction because of the substantial base area of the deviceand the rounding of the corners at the ends of the base member. In thisconnection, it will be noted that the body of the present device may beconveniently made of ordinary flat stock steel, and aside from theforming of the openings 30 and 35, the operations performed on the bodyI8 are largely simple bending operations. Thus the bends 20, 26, 21 and34 may be very economically formed. It will be noted that the deviceconsists essentially of two parts, namely the base member I9 which isunder tension, and the tube 32, which is It is not necessary thatthebase viously possesses great tensile strength. The weld 34 carrieslittle, if any load, and only shearing stresses are transmitted to theweld 33. The elimination of any bending stresses at the points ofwelding eliminates any weaknesses at such points.

The tube 32 being larger in internal diameter than the diameter of thehoop, the hoop end I5 and the lug as a whole are free to shift withrespect to each other in the application and tightening of the lugwithout any binding of the hoop in the tube 32.

As is well known, wood tanks are generally made of soft wood, such as,redwood, pine or cypress, etc., and the elimination or minimizing of thedigging of the base of the device into the tank is highly important. Thcrushing or digging of the wood occurs to such an extent withconventional lugs that many users of these devices demand that they befurnished with a protector with each lug. Such a device isa separateelement forming a broad flat seat arranged beneath the lug. The presentdevice eliminates any need for such a protector, as will be obvioussince, without changing any of the manufacturing op erations and bymerely using difierent stock in the forming of the body I8, a base I9 ofany desired width may be obtained. It is occasionally necessary in thetightening of the lug after being in service to readjust the location ofa hoop vertically with respect to the tank because of the substantialembedding of the'lug in the tank.

Vertical shifting of the lug is practically always unnecessary when thepresent device is employed.

Moreover, it is sometimes necessary to realign the vertical spacing ofthe hoops due to the condition of the tank, for example, whereadditional hoops are required for reinforcement, or to stop leaks, etc.In such cases, it is very convenientfor the hoop to be tappedup or downfrom its original position after being only slightly loosened. This isimpossible if the lug should be deeply embedded in the staves, in whichcase the hoop must be loosened to such an extent, to move it out of thecrushed recess, that the hoop is then quite loose on the tank. Ofcourse; this is not only inconvenient, but the crushed recess presents avery unsightly appearance. Inasmuch as the present device will not besubstantially embedded in the tank staves under any conditions, the hoopmay be easily tapped to move it vertically merely by slightly looseningthe nut 36.

I claim:

1. A hoop lug comprising a base having one end upturned and bentintermediate its ends to form a pair of attaching sections one adjacentsaid base and the other remote therefrom and each having ahoop-receiving opening, and a tubular member connected at one end tosaid base remote from said upturned end, the other end of said tubularmember being secured to the attaching section remote from said base inconcentric relation to the opening therethrough for the reception of oneend of the hoop through such tions one adjacent said base and the otherremote therefrom and each provided with an opening for the extensiontherethrough of one end of the hoop, the bend in said body to formsaidupturned end having a curved outer face, the opposite end of saidbase being curved away from the structure against which said base isadapted to be seated, and a tubular member connected at one end to theend of said base opposite said upturned end and at its opposite end tothe attaching section remote from said base, said tubular member beingin alignment with the opening through the attaching section to which itis connected for the extension of one end of a hoop through such openingand through said tubular member.

3. A hoop lug comprising a body having a relatively flat base and anupturned end bent intermediate its ends to form a pair of attachingsections one adjacent said base and the other remote therefrom and eachprovided with an opening for the extension therethrough of one end ofthe hoop, the bend in said body to form said upturned end having acurved outer face, the opposite end of said base being curved away fromthe structure against which said base is adapted to be seated, and atubular member having one end seated against and welded to the attachingsection remote from said base, the other end of said tubular membercontacting said base and being welded thereto, said tubular member beingarranged in alignment with the opening through the attaching section towhich it is connected for the extension of one end of a hoop throughsuch opening and through the tubular member.

4. A lug for anchoring the ends of a hoop having nuts threaded thereon,comprising an elongated body bent to form a base and an outstanding end,said base being relatively flat and unbroken throughout its area andhaving one side adapted to seat against the structure in connection withwhich the hoop is adapted to be used, said outstanding end extendingaway from such structure and being bent intermediate its ends to formattaching sections one adjacent said base and the other remote therefromand each having inner and outer faces, each attaching section beingprovided with an opening for the extension of one end of the hooptherethrough, the nut on one end of the hoop being adapted to engage theinner face of the attaching section adjacent said base and the nut onthe other end of the hoop being engageable with the outer face of theattaching section remote from said base whereby the tightening of thelatter nut will contract the hoop about said structure, and acompression member extending between and secured respectively to theattachin section remote from said base and to the other end of saidbase, said base, said outstanding end and said compression membergenerally defining a' triangular structure open through the sidesthereof for the placing in position of the nut to be threaded on thefirst mentioned end of said hoop.

5. A lug for anchoring the ends of a hoop having nuts threaded thereon,comprising an elongated body bent to form a base and an outstanding end,said base being relatively fiat and unbroken throughout its area andhaving one side adapted to seat against the structure in connection withwhich the hoop is adapted to be used, said outstanding end extendingaway from such structure and being bent intermediate its ends to formattaching sections one adjacent said base and the other remote therefromand each having inner and outer faces, each attaching section beingprovided with an opening for the extension of one end of the hooptherethrough, the nut on one end of the hoop being adapted to engage theinner face of the attaching section adjacent said base and the nut onthe other end of th hoop being engageable with the outer face of theattaching section remote from said base whereby the tightening of thelatter nut will contract the hoop about said structure, a tubular memberwelded at one end to the inner face of the attaching section remote fromsaid base and at its other end to the other end of said base, saidtubular member being aligned with the opening through the attachingsection to which it is connected for the extension through such openingand through said tubular member of the second mentioned end of saidhoop, said base, said outstanding end and said tubular member generallydefining a triangular structure open therethrough from side to side forthe placing in position of the nut of the first mentioned end of saidhoop.

6. A lug for anchoring the ends of a hoop having nuts threaded thereon,comprising an elongated body bent to form a base and an outstanding end,said base being relatively flat and unbroken throughout its area andhaving one side adapted to seat against the structure in connection withwhich the hoop is adapted to be used, said outstanding end extendingaway from such structure and being bent intermediate its ends to formattaching sections one adjacent said base and the other remote therefromand each having inner and outer faces, each attaching section beingprovided with an opening for the extension of one end of the hooptherethrough, the nut on one end of the hoop being adapted to engage theinner face of the attaching section adjacent said base and the nut onthe other end of the hoop being engageable with the outer face of theattaching section remote from said base whereby the tightening of thelatter nut will contract the hoop about said structure, a tubular memberwelded at one end to the inner face of the attaching section remote fromsaid base and at its other end to the other end of said base, saidtubular memher being aligned with the opening through the attachingsection to which it is connected for the extension through such openingand through said tubular member of the second mentioned end of saidhoop, said base, said outstanding end and said tubular member generallydefining a triangular structure open therethrough from side to side, theopening in the attaching section through which the first named end ofthe hoop extends being somewhat larger in diameter than said hoopwhereby the latter may be inclined for projection through an open sideof said triangular structure for the threading of the nut on the firstmentioned end of the hoop.

ROBERT GRIFFIN DE LA MATER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 761,486 Hight May 31, 1904911,071 Reichert Feb. 2, 1909 1,307,865 Kielland June 24, 1919

